'Borat' Is Not Approved For Distribution in Russia

By STEVEN LEE MYERS

Published: November 10, 2006

Sacha Baron Cohen, the British comedian who plays the fictional Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev, may satirize Kazakhstan -- and the United States -- more, but he has managed to cause offense in Russia. Officials here have moved to effectively ban his popular new film, ''Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.''

The Federal Culture and Cinematography Agency, which certifies films for public distribution, declined this week to do so for ''Borat,'' which is produced by 20th Century Fox, blocking it from the country's movie theaters only weeks before it was to open on Nov. 30.

An agency official, Yury V. Vasyuchkov, cited the film's potential to offend religious and ethnic feelings in a country where such feelings have been strained in recent months by ethnically tinged political conflicts and even violence.

The agency's decision amounted to the first such restriction on a film's public distribution -- pornography aside -- since the Soviet system of censorship collapsed in the late 1980s. In doing so, Russia has gone further even than Kazakhstan, the country that bears the brunt of Mr. Baron Cohen's mock documentary by Borat, a boorish state television reporter who visits the United States.

Although Borat's antics have exasperated officials in Kazakhstan, that country has not banned the film, though it has strongly urged that it not be distributed. And 20th Century Fox's distribution subsidiary in the region, Gemini Films, has agreed not to show it there, Gemini's director, Michael Schlicht, said in a telephone interview on Thursday.

A spokesman for Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry, Yerzhan N. Ashykbayev, said his country had nothing to do with Russia's decision.

Russian officials here maintained they had not actually banned ''Borat'' but simply recommended that it not be issued a certificate of distribution, a decision that the distributor could challenge, first within the agency and then in court. The agency's decision was reported on Thursday in the newspapers Kommersant and The Moscow Times, which both described the move as a ban.

''We do not have the right to ban a movie,'' Mr. Vasyuchkov, who runs the agency's department that grants licenses, said in a telephone interview. ''Something can be banned only on the basis of a court. We simply refused to certify it.''

Mr. Schlicht indicated that 20th Century Fox would not challenge the agency's decision. He declined to comment on it in detail, but also declined to characterize it as an outright ban.

''Russia is a liberal country; they don't forbid showing films,'' Mr. Schlicht said. ''They make recommendations, and we follow them.''

It is impossible to say how much the decision could cost 20th Century Fox, but moviegoing has expanded exponentially here in recent years, allowing Hollywood films to add millions of dollars to total earnings. By Tuesday, ''Borat,'' which opened last Friday, had taken in more than $32 million in ticket sales in the United States, and, by Monday, more than $20 million in other countries. The Russian agency's action does not necessarily mean that the film will not be seen in Russia. Piracy is so rampant here that illicit DVD's are often readily available within days of a film's release. ''Borat'' includes crude language and behavior, like naked men wrestling. But it also depicts its hero -- who, while not explicitly Muslim, is from a country with a large Sunni Muslim population -- as deeply backward, deeply prejudiced and deeply foolish. Mr. Vasyuchkov said the film ''could be offensive to some nationalities and religions'' in Russia, which has a large Muslim minority, estimated to number from 14 million to 23 million, as much as 16 percent of Russia's population.

Several predominantly Muslim countries have barred the distribution of the film, including Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar, according to Gregg Brilliant, a spokesman for Fox.

Daniil B. Dondurei, editor of the magazine Iskusstvo Kino, or Art of Cinema, said he thought the Russian decision was purely a political one, though with several motives.

He, too, cited ethnic tensions, highlighted by a nationalistic march last weekend, but also close relations between Russia and Kazakhstan and a taboo in Russia against satirical depictions of national leaders or political systems. (In 2000 the Kremlin pressured a satirical television program, since canceled, to drop a puppet depicting President Vladimir V. Putin.)

Mr. Dondurei said that as the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia adopted a very liberal attitude when it came to what was shown in theaters and on television, where sex, violence and vulgarity are still found in abundance. ''You can see things that would be impossible in America,'' he said.

He noted, however, that there were limits. While there have been public complaints in Russia about movies like ''The Da Vinci Code'' -- and recently a concert by Madonna -- he described the move against ''Borat'' as ''a unique case,'' though one that could reflect a nascent desire to control, once again, what Russians see.